Unions, Town Reach Impasse

Contract Talks Going To Arbitration

SUFFIELD — Contracts between the town and two groups of municipal workers are headed for arbitration after negotiations collapsed over health insurance costs.

Arbitration before the state labor board emerged as the only solution this month after mediation attempts failed between public works employees and the town and town hall employees and the town.

Also going to arbitration is a union grievance filed Sept. 21 on behalf of a public works employee who contends he was denied overtime against contract rules after being called in on a paid day off a month earlier.

Blocking the settlement of both contracts is an impasse over when employee contributions to health care costs should be deducted. Union members have accepted that employees hired before 1998 will begin paying 10 percent of their health care premiums as those hired since that date do. But the town wants the co-pays to go into effect immediately, while union members maintain that the annual contribution should be phased in over the three years of the contracts.

Town and school employees in Suffield, like those in other municipalities, are beginning to pay for a greater share of ballooning health care costs. The public works and town hall employees are among the last contract groups to do so.

Contracts for both sets of employees, who are represented by Teamsters Local 559 in South Windsor, expired June 30. The collective bargaining unit for public works consists of about 15 employees. About 24 workers, including police dispatchers, are covered under the town hall employees contract.

Representatives agreed on annual salary increases of 3.5 percent. Town hall employees ultimately rejected the total package 12-4, while public works employees defeated the proposed settlement 11-1, union officials said.

John Lupacchino, who represents both groups for the union, said that both the grievance and the town's stand disclose r a hardening position toward its employees. He said that rigidity, embodied by the town's lead negotiator, Human Resources Director Judy Watson, has left employees feeling betrayed.

``They feel that the first selectwoman has turned her back on them,'' Lupacchino said. ``They know that the town is willing to spend more tax dollars fighting the employees than if they worked with them.''

For some public works employees with families, a 10 percent co-pay would take as much as 92 cents of their hourly raise for the first year of the contract, he said.

Lupacchino stated that employees recognize that they must chip in for the rising cost of their health care. In looking for the contributions to be phased in, he said the union is merely asking for the same arrangement Suffield and other municipalities have given to other bargaining groups in recent years.

First Selectwoman Elaine Sarsynski said that the town has to put controls on health care spending, and contributions of 10 percent are below what many workers in private industry are paying.

``It's almost unheard of for employees to not pay toward health insurance,'' she said. ``It's time to change this imbalance.''

Sarsynski reacted sharply to the union's comparison of its members' contracts to the library employees, whom she said are fewer and are generally paid a lower rate.

The finance board was just as firm on the issue, fully backing the selectmen's position against a phase-in.

Finance Chairman Brian Kost said containing health care costs is a priority for the town. Costs have risen an average of 10 percent each year for the past five years, making the employee health care budget of around $3 million the town's second-highest operating expense, behind payroll, he added.

``If everything's free and you don't have to pay anything, there's no reason to not to seek out care, even if it isn't necessary,'' Kost said.

Lupacchino questioned the sincerity of the town's argument, referring to the town's solid financial position with deep cash reserves and the windfall it received from the sales of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield stock it received in 2002 after a company reorganization.